Jazz it Up!
by Koujo Wheeler
Summary: *Chapter 12* As our story comes to an end, Carlos has a surprise for Sarah...
1. A New MiniCon

"I don't believe it," cried Rad. "There's a Mini-Con right here in town and we're just now picking up it's signal?!" Rad had a good reason to be surprised- it was rather unusual that after all this time, a Mini-Con would surface in the very town they were in.

"I'm not sure if I believe it either," replied Optimus Prime, leader of the Autobots. "Especially since there seems to be one more tiny piece to this puzzle."

"What's that, Optimus?" asked Alexis.

"Not only has this Mini-Con awoken, but it has been activated as well!" Carlos and Rad's jaws dropped, Alexis' eyes widened and the Autobots stared at their leader. 

"Activated?" asked Alexis. "You mean that there's a little Mini-Con running around out there and it's not on either side?"

"That's exactly what I mean, Alexis," said Optimus. "Which is why it is vital that we find it before the Decepticons do. This Mini-Con may have been activated by a human- just as you activated High Wire, Rad. If this is true, that human is in danger until we find them." Rad nodded as Carlos bit his lip for a moment.

"Hey Optimus," he said, finally. "How long do you think this Mini-Con has been activated?"

"Probably not very long, Carlos," he replied. "Unless..." He thought for a moment. "Red Alert- do you remember back about eleven years ago when we shut down the Decepticon's radar and shut down our own as well?" Red Alert nodded.

"Yeah, I remember. Why?" Hot Shot suddenly spat out an answer. 

"I got it!" he said, "Each Mini-Con only transmits one signal when it is discovered. If it was discovered when the radar was found, we wouldn't have known about it." Optimus nodded.

"Right on, Hot Shot."

"Wait a second," said Carlos. "Even if the Mini-Cons only transmit one discovery signal, we still located it- but shouldn't we have picked up on it before now?" Smoke Screen shook his head.

"Not necessarily, Carlos," he said. "If the Mini-Con has been on the move, there is really no way of tracking it with our equipment- ours is programmed to find the Mini-Cons that are inactive, not the ones that are up and moving around. I'm still trying to figure out how we got this one."

"Come on!" said Optimus. "That Mini-Con seems to be moving and moving fast- we've got to find it!" As the Autobots and the kids headed towards the teleportation room, Rad suddenly remembered something he had seen at school that day. A new girl named Sarah, who was in most of his, Carlos and Alexis' classes, had left school that afternoon, riding on a rather unique looking BMX bike. He asked Carlos and Alexis if they had seen Sarah's bike. When they admitted they had, and that it did look sort of like a Mini-Con, Rad automatically informed Optimus of his memory and asked what he thought.

"Well, Rad, it's definitely worth checking out."

Meanwhile, halfway across town, my adventure was merely beginning. My name is Sarah- don't ask for a last name, because I don't have on to give you, but I am the Sarah Rad was talking about. I was riding around town on... you may not believe this, but I was riding around on a orange and blue BMX that turned into a robot, not much smaller than myself. I didn't know it at the time, but it was one of the Mini-Cons that the Transformers were looking for. Then again, I sort of did know- the reason I was riding that BMX at break-neck speed at this moment in time was to get away from a group of huge (and I mean HUGE) robots that were on my tail. And they didn't seem the least bit friendly.

"Jazz, is there anyway we can lose them?" I asked my BMX- don't think I'm crazy, the thing really talks! Well, it beeps, but I understand what it says! And he was beeping his little heart out.

"Yeah," he said. "Go FASTER!" Jazz's front wheel went into the air as he gassed it and we went as fast as we could go with out starting to fly. I looked behind me to see how close the giant robots were. Unfortunately, I could still see them clearly and I didn't like what I was seeing- they were transforming from robots to different motor vehicles.

The first to change had originally been a gray robot, with yellow propeller type things on his back- that was before it turned into a helicopter. The second was a darker gray with white and red wing-tipped shoulders... that made sense, considering he turned into a jet. The next was three different shades of green, all ugly ones, with some red, and turned into a tank, while the last one was the one I was worried about. He seemed to be the leader- one who gave directions every five seconds. He was a dark purplish color, and like the green and red dude, he turned into a tank- and was gaining fast on me and Jazz.

"Cyclonis!" he yelled. "Kill the child if you have to, but don't hurt the Mini-Con!"

"Yes Megatron!" the Helicopter replied. Oh yeah, I really wanted to hear that- on the bright side, I knew then names of some of the.... things chasing me.

"We've got a problem, Jazz," I said. "These guys seem to want you bad and they don't care what they need to do to get it... oh no." I focused my attention to the road in front of me and noticed more giant robots... and Jazz seemed to be heading right for them. "Jazz, where the heck are you going?" I cried. "You're heading right for them!"

"Don't worry, Sare," he beeped back. "These are the good guys- trust me."

"Are you positive?"  
"Have I ever lied to you before?"

"No, not that I know of."

"Well, why start now?" I thought for a moment.

"Okay," I said. "Let's do it!"

As Jazz and I headed towards the other set of robots, the helicopter, Cyclonis, fired a missile that landed less than a foot away from Jazz's back tire. I went flying through the air and slammed my head on a rock when I hit the ground. My eyes were open long enough to see Jazz land not to far away from me and a group of people run over to me and kneel at my side. I looked at them with a confused expression on my face.

"Rad?" I asked. "Carlos, Alexis?" The three of them nodded and I heard Carlos say something just before I passed out: "You're safe, Sarah."


	2. My Story

Hey all! I just wanna send a shot-out to everyone who's reviewed this fic so far and has asked for more- you people got me motivated to write more, so her we go! Chapter two:

I woke up sometime later, not sure where I was, and was trying to piece together just exactly what happened. On the subject of where I was, it seemed to be a metal science lab of some sort- I was lying on a sleeping bag on top of a table. I remembered hearing sounds after I'd passed out or whatever- explosions, gunfire, and voices, only four of which I recognized: Rad, Carlos, Alexis and... Jazz.

"Jazz?" I called as I tried to sit up. "Jazz, where are you?" I slid off of the table and attempted to find my friend. Only problem was, my legs felt like spaghetti noodles- wobbly and out of control (Well, you try to control a noodle you're slurping!). I was about to fall to the floor, when I was caught by someone, a voice I didn't know.

"Careful, kid," he said. "You've been through a lot today." Somehow, whoever it was lifted me into the air and set me back down on the table. That's when I saw who it was: a large yellow robot- one of the ones Jazz had said were the good guys. "The name's Hot Shot," he told me. "How ya feelin'?"

"I guess I'm okay," I replied. "But where am I? And where's Jazz, is he okay?" Suddenly, I heard a familiar beep echo through the room, causing me to gasp. "Jazz!" 

I jumped off the table once again and rushed off towards my best friend. He looked a little banged up- then again, so did I- but it didn't change my happiness to see him, or his to see me. I wrapped my arms around him.

"Oh, Jazz," I cried, "I'm so happy to see you!" He put his arms around me as well.

"Are you okay?" he asked. "You've been out for a while, and I was really worried." I smiled and nodded my head.

"I'm great, now that I know you're okay." I was silent for a moment. "Jazz, who are these guys? What's going on?"

"We could ask you the same question." said a voice, one I recognized- Alexis. She was standing behind Jazz, along with Rad, Carlos and some other giant robots. "Where did you get your Mini-Con?" I gave her a confused look.

"Mini-Con?" I asked. "Do you mean Jazz?" She, the boys and the robots nodded. "If you've got time for my life story, I'll be glad to tell ya."

"Do we have time Optimus?" Rad asked. The largest robot, a red, white and blue one, chuckled and gave a nod.

"Sure, why not." After everyone introduced themselves, they sat down around me, so I sat down as well and started my story.

"I'm trying to think of which is worse," I said. "Being raised with a silver spoon in my mouth, or what really happened. My parents died in a car crash when I was three and being that I had no living relatives, I was sent to an orphanage. This place made the work house in "Oliver Twist" seem like paradise- walls with huge holes in them that let in the rain, snow and cold air; rats, snakes and other pests vacating all of the rooms; old decaying baby diapers every where- mostly on kids who've been wearing them for months on end; and lets not even get into the food... well, I shouldn't but I'm going there anyway."

"It was the same meal three times a day: Moldy bread with a sliver of rotten cheese on top; cold, sugarless oatmeal; and if you were lucky, a glass of cold water- it was usually served warm. If you're not grossed out yet, then you probably wouldn't understand why I ran away not more than a year later- I'm still surprised I lasted that long."

"I'm surprised too," said Carlos. "That's just plain gross."

"I bet the Decepticons would enjoy it," joked Rad.

"Who are the Decepticons?" I asked.

"One story at a time, Sarah," said Optimus. "Please continue with yours."

"All right," I said with a nod. "The funny thing... well maybe not funny, but the main thing about the whole ordeal was that no one ever came to look for me. They probably never noticed I was gone in the first place."

"With that much filth," said Carlos. "I can understand that." My eyes lit up in a mischievous way.

"Are you saying I'm filth, Carlos?" I asked him. He looked at me in total shock.

"Whoa, wait a second Sare... I- I didn't mean..." I burst out laughing and gave him a light punch on the shoulder.

"I'm just messin' with ya, Carlos!" I said, still laughing. "I know you didn't mean it." Carlos looked lost for a moment, then laughed along with me.

"Hey," said Alexis. "Can we get back to your story, Sarah?" I nodded.

"Oh, yeah- so, there I was- a slip of a girl, just turned four-years-old, all alone in the world... until the night I stumbled into a cave to escape the cold, rainy weather. That was when I discovered a green glow coming from deep inside the cave. Being that I was just a kid, I hadn't the slightest clue what it was, therefore I had to go find out- nothing on earth is more powerful that the curiosity of a five-year-old girl. I walked back towards the light, wondering what I would find. I remembering hoping it would be something warm- I was freezing."

"You were a four-year-old girl," said Red Alert. "All alone in the world, and you were worried about being cold?" I thought about it for a moment.

"Yeah," I replied. "It was like winter outside, or something. Anyway, a few moments later, I found the source of the light- this green, pentagon shaped plate thingy. I reached my hand out and grabbed it, only to be surrounded by a strong gust of wind that almost knocked me off of my feet. The plate was a little less than half my size and was rather difficult to hold in my hands. After a moment, it fell to the ground, as did I, and it started to glow even brighter."

"Hey, that's what happened to me!" cried Rad. "When I found High Wire- remember Carlos?" Carlos nodded.

"Hey man," he said. "Let her finish the story?" I smiled.

"Thanks Carlos," I said with a wink. As I finished telling them the story, the entire scene replayed in my mind- the ghostly image of a small orange robot, with blue arms, legs and face appeared. Seconds later, it was more than an image- the robot was really standing in front of me. I looked at him, he looked at me. 

"Hi!" I said, without a hint of fear. "My name's Sarah. Who are you?" He made some different beeping noises... and I understood all of them. 

"I don't have a name." he replied.

"Why don't you?"

"My master has to give me one."

"Master?" I asked, "Well who's he?" He gave me a slightly puzzled look.

"You are." I stared at him for a second, before shaking my head..

"Me? No way, I'm not being anyone's master. I'll be you're friend or something like that, but I'm not gonna control you." He nodded back, then turned around and ran off. "Hey! Where are you going?" I was alone for a matter of minutes, throwing rocks at the cave wall, when he returned.

"I couldn't believe it," I told my companions. "When he returned, he had a blanket with him, along with some fire wood and some food- I don't know how he got it, 'cause I never asked. He also changed a little bit- Jazz went from something that looked like it escaped out of a kids toy store... no offence, man."

"None take," he beeped.

"To his current form, that turns into a sweet BMX. Anyway, he got a fire going and we've been together ever since."

"Hey, why'd you name him Jazz?" asked Smoke Screen. I giggled a bit and looked over at Jazz. He nodded at me and I nodded back.

"It's kinda crazy," I said. "That first night in the cave, I couldn't sleep to save my life. I was wrapped up in the blanket he gave me, tossing and turning like there was no tomorrow. Then suddenly, Jazz came over, took me in his arms and started... well he started to sing. It was kind of a slow song, but it was still kinda jazzy and it tired me out, but before I went to sleep, I remember saying "Thanks, Jazz-man," and the name stuck." I looked around at everyone and smiled. "Hey, that's enough about me- does someone want to tell me what's going on here? Why were those robot chasing me and Jazz?"


	3. Their Story and More

As Carlos, Rad, Alexis and the Autobots told their story, the Decepticon I was the most worried about, the dark purple one named Megatron, was at his base on the moon, plotting the destruction of the Autobots and the capture of me.  
"I don't understand, Megatron," said the jet Transformer, Starscreen. "What is so important about this girl? You told Cyclonis to kill her, but mere moments after that, you demand we spare her life. And now we must take her alive? Why, tell me why." It was true: during their battle with the Autobots, it seemed that Megatron had gotten a better look at Jazz and I. When that happened, he immediately ordered his troops to back down and retreat, although he seemed to have the upper hand. Cyclonis tried to get one more shot at me before his retreat, but was commanded not to. Megatron looked at Starscreen, Cyclonis and Demolisher and smiled.  
"It's very simple, Starscreen," he said. "It all has to do with the Dedicanvelope Prophecy."  
"The Dedicanvelope Prophecy?" asked the green and red tank, Demolisher. "But couldn't that other girl, Alexis just as easily be the one mentioned in the prophecy?"  
"You deceive yourself, Demolisher," replied Megatron. "The Dedicanvelope Prophecy clearly states that the chosen one is a girl with the night sky coloring her hair; the soil of earth in her eyes and an orange and blue Mini-Con in her possession. This new girl fits the description perfectly." He started to laugh. "She will be the key to the undoing of the Autobots- I'm sure of it."  
"Okay," I said. "I understand who you are, who the Decepticons are, and who the Mini-Cons are. But..."  
"But what?" asked Carlos. Back on earth, the Autobots had explained pretty much everything to me, except for one minor detail.  
"What does all this have to do with us?" I pointed to myself and Jazz. "That Megatron creep told his helicopter pal to kill me if he had to, but not to harm Jazz. And then you say he told his creeps to let me live? Why?"  
"That's just his way, Sarah," said Hot Shot. "Trust me, you'll get used to it." The entire time I was asking my questions and getting answers, Optimus seemed to be off in a daze, thinking.  
"It might be more than that, Hot Shot," he said after a moment. "I've been wondering the same thing, Sarah- why would Megatron order you killed then suddenly change his mind."  
"Maybe he had a change of heart," suggested Alexis. Rad chuckled.  
"Megatron doesn't have a heart to change.' he said.  
"No, it doesn't have to do with his heart," said Optimus. He looked at the other Autobots for a moment. Red Alert looked him dead in the eye and his jaw dropped.  
"You can't mean..." Optimus began to nod, cutting Red Alert off. "Oh no." I gulped and looked up at my robot companions.  
"Do I even want to know why he just said 'Oh no' to you?" I asked. "Or should I just forget he said it and forget I asked?" Carlos cracked a smiled.  
"This really isn't the time for making jokes, Sare," he told me. I looked over at him and gave a slightly nervous grin.  
"Maybe not," I said. "But it's making me feel a little better."  
"What was he 'oh no-ing,' Optimus?" asked Rad. "Is it really that bad?" Optimus looked down at Rad and nodded.  
"I'm afraid it is, Rad," he replied. "Red Alert is talking about the Dedicanvelope Prophecy."  
"Man," I said. "I know I'm gonna regret this, but what is the Dedicanvelope Prophecy?" No one seemed to want to answer my question- the Autobots just looked at one another. Finally, Hot Shot spoke up.  
"The Dedicanvelope Prophecy was written millions of years ago," he said. "Not long after the Great War began, but before the Mini-Cons came into existence. It was said that a human child, a female with the night sky colored in her hair; the soil of earth coloring her eyes and an orange and blue Mini-Con in her possession would be the key for the Decepticons to win the war."  
"How would she do that?" asked Alexis.  
"I'm not one hundred percent sure," Hot Shot replied. "But it has something to do with a weapon the Decepticons made before the prophecy was written, a large laser cannon type thing. They've never been able to use it before, because there wasn't enough power to run it." Rad suddenly snapped his fingers.  
"That's why they need the girl!" he cried. "She's the power source to run the laser cannon!"  
"That could be right," said Optimus. "But, we never really believed in the prophecy until now, because back then humans didn't exist." Suddenly, everyone noticed that I was being very quiet. To be precise, I was sitting in a corner with my arms wrapped around my knees, trying not to cry.  
"So," I said. "What you're telling me is that millions of years ago, some robot dudes predicted my birth and that I would be some sort of fuse for a laser cannon?!" Imagine my voice getting a little louder with each word I spoke and the Autobots, Rad, Alexis and Carlos nodding their heads and slowly backing away. "Well that's just great! Look at me everyone: I'm the fourteen-year-old walking, talking Die Hard battery! Yee-haw!" I stopped trying not to cry right then and there- what was the point in it? I mean, if you found out that you were nothing more than a power source for a weapon that could destroy an entire race, wouldn't you be more than a little bummed out?  
As I sat there in tears, Hot Shot, Smoke Screen, Red Alert and Optimus looked at me in a rather confused way.  
"What is she doing?" asked Smoke Screen. "Does she need maintenance?" Rad looked at him, just as confused as the Autobots were.  
"No, she doesn't need maintenance," he said. "She's crying. Haven't you... that's a dumb question. Anyway, she's only crying."  
"What is this crying?" asked Optimus. "How does it work?"  
"Well," said Carlos. "When humans are hurt, sad, scared or even happy, they're eyes fill with little water drops, called tears. We do it as a way to make us feel a little better. I must say though, it takes a lot for someone to do it in public."  
"I'm sorry," I said as I wiped my eyes. "I really shouldn't be doing this." Jazz put a hand on my shoulder. I looked up at him and saw him smiling.  
"It's okay, kid," he said. "If I were you, I'd cry too." I smiled back- that was what I needed to make me feel good enough to stop crying.  
"Thanks Jazz-man." I looked up at the Autobots. "What do I do now?" Optimus was about to reply, when an alarm sounded. "What the devil is that?"  
"That's a Mini-Con signal!" said Red Alert. "Another one has woken up."  
"So what does that mean?" I asked.   
"It means we have to go find it," said Hot Shot. "Come on!" Everyone started running out of the room, causing me to jump up and follow them.  
"Hey, wait up!" We went towards another door, which Rad, Carlos and Alexis stopped in front of. Suddenly, their clothes went from jeans and t-shirts to orange jumpsuits.  
"Come on Sarah," called Carlos as he pointed to a spot on the floor. "Stand there!" I did as I was told, only to find a blue light start shining on my feet. As it moved up, my clothes also changed to an orange jumpsuit.  
"Awesome!" I said and chased after Carlos. "Come on, Jazz!" He nodded and followed me.  
We went to, as I was told, the teleportation room, which would take us to the area where the Mini-Con was located.  
"Hey, is it a good idea to take her with us?" asked Rad. He was talking about me and I should have gotten angry, but didn't- he was only worried about my safety, although a part of me wished Carlos had asked the question.  
"I'll look after her!" Hot Shot volunteered as he transformed into a sweet looking yellow hot rod. "Hop in, Sare!" I was about to do so, when he made a sort of groaning noise and spat smoke out of his tail pipe. "Uh-oh, I think I've got a problem." I bit my lip for a moment, then brightened up.  
"Jazz, you go with everyone else," I said. "I'll stay here to see if I can help Hot Shot, and we'll join up with ya in a bit!"  
"All right," said Optimus. "But do you know anything about mechanics?" I nodded.  
"Sure do- who do you think does Jazz's check ups?" With that they were gone, leaving me alone with Hot Shot. "Okay, man- pop the hood and lets see what's shakin'." 


	4. Fixer Upper

"Okay," I said. "I think I've found the problem, Hot Shot. Let me just refasten this hose right here, and we should be ready to roll." As I moved the hose up and down to try to put it on a small spout, Hot Shot began to laugh.

"Hey!" he cried. "Stop it! That, that... I don't know what it is, but stop it!" I stopped trying to reconnect the hose for a moment.

"Describe what it felt like," I said. "Maybe if you tell me, I can find out what it is." Hot Shot thought for a moment.

"It's, um, kind of like a prickly feeling, but it doesn't hurt. It goes through my entire body, and as you saw, it makes me laugh." I thought about what he said, then **_I_** started to laugh. "What's so funny?"

"Well, I'll be dogged," I said. "Hot Shot, you're ticklish!" There was a moment of silence, most likely out of confusion.

"What is 'ticklish'?" he asked. I was right, so I thought for a moment. Then remembered that I had to finish reconnecting that hose. As I did so, Hot Shot erupted in laughter again. I smiled.

"That, my friend, is ticklish." I shut his hood, he opened his door and I was about to hop inside, when I remembered something. I rushed back to the room where I had first met all the Autobots and grabbed my blue backpack- it had been on my back when I encountered the Decepticons and someone had taken it off. But I had a feeling I might need it. I rushed back to Hot Shot and got inside. "I'm ready," I said. "Lets juice!"

"Juice? What do you mean?" I giggled.

"Let's juice is just my way of saying 'lets go.' Jazz doesn't like it either."

"No, I like it- it's pretty sweet. Let's juice!"

I buckled my seat belt just as I saw the Mini-Con location appear on a screen in front of us. The next thing I knew, we were there- mountains everywhere, with large snowcaps on the top, green grass on the bottom... and wouldn't you know it? We got there right smack dab in the middle of a battle. I could see Megatron dueling it out with Optimus; Starscreen and Smoke Screen getting it on. But I couldn't see Red Alert anywhere. I scanned the area until I spotted him- Demolisher and Cyclonis were ganged up on him.

"Hot Shot" I said, "Red Alert's in trouble!"

"I see that," he replied. "But I said I'd look after you and I can't transform while your inside." Suddenly, I unbuckled my seatbelt, stood up and opened my door. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" I grabbed hold of the sides around the door and stuck my head out.

"Jazz-man!" Jazz heard my call almost a quarter mile away, where he was with Rad, Carlos and Alexis, and their Mini-Cons, High Wire, Sure Shock, and Grinder, respectively. Instantly he transformed into the BMX and headed towards me.

"Hey!" cried Rad. "Jazz, where are you going?" Jazz beeped back a simple, one-word answer: "Sarah."

When he got close enough I asked him and Hot Shot to hold steady. What happened next still amazes me, let alone Hot Shot, Jazz and Carlos, who was watching from the nearby cover of a small hill.

"She wouldn't," he said. Wanna bet? I readied myself and jumped from Hot Shot's doorway onto Jazz's seat. Carlos took a deep breath. "She would." As soon as I was out, Hot Shot transformed back into a robot and rushed to Red Alert's aid. 

"Man," he said to himself. "That girl is as big of a hot shot as I am." As he thought this, I skidded Jazz to make a turn then sped off in the other direction.

"Okay, Jazz," I said. "Lets go help Rad, Alexis and Carlos find that Mini-Con!"

Jazz and I sped over to Alexis, Rad and Carlos. When we got there, I sensed that someone there was glad to see me. I skidded to a stop in front of then and hopped off Jazz, who then changed to his robot form.

"Sarah, are you all right?" cried Carlos. "That stunt you pulled was simply amazing!" I smiled and felt my cheeks turning red- I wasn't used to being complimented by anyone other than teachers, and their compliments were pretty lame.

"I just did something that needed to be done," I told him. "Hot Shot couldn't transform while I was inside, so the only logical course of action was for me to get outside." My smiled shied up a bit as I winked at Carlos. "So, exactly how do we find this Mini-Con?"

"Hey, why don't you guys pick on someone your own size?" Red Alert gave a mental groan from his spot on the ground when Hot Shot made that comment- the guy had obviously been watching too much of that television thing Carlos introduced him to. Red Alert had heard that cliché one too many times since Hot Shot became hooked on Spaghetti Westerns, and was slightly sick of hearing it.

"And who would that someone be?" asked Cyclonis, bringing Red Alert back to reality. "You?" Hot Shot smiled and gave a single nod.

"If you think you can handle it," Hot Shot replied. "Lets go." As Cyclonis began to get it on with Hot Shot, Demolisher continued to beat on Red Alert.

"Give it up, Autobot," he said, "You're done for." Red Alert didn't want to give up, but it didn't seem to be his choice. He stood up and prepared to attack Demolisher, when his legs seemed to give out and he collapsed to the ground. Demolisher grinned and left him there- he had a Mini-Con to find.

I put the Mini-Con into my backpack, hopped on Jazz and waited for Carlos to hop on his skateboard (his Mini-Con, Grindor). After doing so, he came over to me and was about to ask I was able to sense the Mini-Con like that, when he noticed I was staring at something behind him. Judging by the height of my stare, which was way over Carlos' head, the thing I was staring at was extremely tall. He gulped then looked me dead in the eye.

"Oh man," he said. "There's a Decepticon behind me, isn't there?" I nodded.

"Yeah." I didn't say it slowly, like I was scared out of my mind or something like that. It was just your normal everyday "yeah," as if he'd asked me if I liked to play basketball. But no matter how I answered, it didn't change the fact that a large Decepticon, Demolisher, was standing right behind him. I bit my lip, but just for a second- I had gotten an idea. I pulled the Mini-Con out of my backpack and tossed it to Carlos.

"Get out of here!" I yelled to him then directed my words towards the Decepticon. "What do you want more? The Mini-Con, or the key to your precious prophecy?" With that, I turned tail and ran, heading for the Autobots, the rest of the Decepticons and the battle they were in.

I had managed to keep a good lead on Demolisher, who didn't really know what hit him when I gave him his choice and had to think about it for a minute. I was sure things were gonna be all right, when I saw Red Alert lying on the ground at the base of a mountain and I could tell he was hurt. I quickly sped over to him and hopped off Jazz, who transformed back to a robot. I started to check Red Alert and found he was unconscious- not good.

"Jazz," I said, suddenly. "Get Demolisher's attention- that hunk of metal will probably figure I'm still with you, so he'll follow. Go find Carlos and the rest of the guys and tell them to give up that Mini-Con."

"Are you out of your mind?!" he asked me. "We can't do that, it's crazy!"

"Jazz, trust me!" I looked him dead in the eyes and he suddenly understood what I was talking about- something the two of us had done a long time ago would help us out now. Jazz nodded, went back to vehicle mode and drove off. I hid behind Red Alert's arm and watched as Demolisher followed Jazz, just like I thought he would. I smiled, then got to work- I had to figure out what was wrong with Red Alert.

"Rad, Carlos, look!" cried Alexis, "Isn't that Jazz?" Carlos had caught up with Rad and Alexis and the three of them were kind of just standing around wondering what to do. Rad looked in the direction Alexis was pointing.

"That's him, all right," he said. "And Demolisher is right behind him... but where's Sarah?" Carlos saw that I wasn't on Jazz's seat and was instantly worried, wondering what had happened to me. Jazz came up to them and turned to robot mode.

"Carlos, Rad, Alexis," he said. "Sarah wants you to give up the Mini-Con."

"Give up the Mini-Con?" cried Alexis. 

"Is she out of her mind?" added Rad. "We can't do that!"

"Where is she, Jazz?" asked Carlos. "Is she all right?"

"She's with Red Alert- he looks hurt and she's trying to help. But give up the Mini-Con, trust me!"

"We can't do that!" said Rad. Suddenly, Jazz grabbed the Mini-Con, turned it over to the backside and handed it to Carlos. He looked at it and smiled.

"Yes, we can," he said. "We can give this one up." He showed the backside of the Mini-Con plate to Rad and Alexis, who smiled and shook their heads.

"Hey there!" cried a voice. The kids turned around to see Demolisher gaining fast. "Give up that Mini-Con or else!"

"Act scared," whispered Carlos. Rad and Alexis did so and began to run. As they did so, Carlos made it look like he accidentally dropped the Mini-Con. Demolisher quickly retrieved it, transformed to vehicle mode and headed for Megatron. He never noticed that the one he had originally been chasing, me, was nowhere is sight. Moron.

"Give it up, Megatron," said Optimus. "We aren't going to let you have that Mini-Con or the child, no matter what." Megatron laughed. The two of them were still going at it and had flattened a few smaller mountains in the process, but neither had quite gotten the better of the other.

"So," the Decepticon replied. "You also know that your new friend is the one I'm looking for. Well, mark my words- we will have that child and it will be the end for you."

"Megatron, sir," called Demolisher. "Sir, I have the Mini-Con!" Megatron smiled and looked at Optimus.

"One down, Optimus Prime," he said. "And it won't be long until I have both things I came for. Decepticons, retreat!"

Cyclonis and Starscreen heard the command from where he was still fighting with Hot Shot and Smoke Screen, all of which had done some considerable damage as well, and smiled.

"Sounds like we've got the Mini-Con," Starscreen said. 

"Yeah," chimed in Cyclonis. "Who knows, maybe we've got that little friend of yours as well." Before the Autobots could do anything about it, Cyclonis and Starscreen vanished. Hot Shot stood there, with a sensation of fear coming over him.

"Sarah."

"Where is she?" asked Rad. "Jazz are you sure she's here?" Alexis, Rad, Carlos and the Autobots had gotten over to Red Alert, hoping to find the two of us alive and well, but I wasn't in sight. Jazz told Rad that he was sure he had left me here.

"I'm right here!" I popped my head up from behind Red Alert's arm then stepped out the rest of the way. Everyone, especially Hot Shot and Carlos breathed a sigh of relief then noticed I was covered in oil. I noticed their stares and shook my head. "Red Alert got hit hard," I told them. "He's got a bad oil leak and I've slowed it up, but we need to get some place where I can get a better look at it." Optimus nodded.

"All right," he said. "Let's get back to the base." We began to leave when I remembered something.

"Hey," I said. "Do any of you not have your own Mini-Con?" Smoke Screen held up a hand, causing me to smile. I opened my backpack and pulled something out- a Mini-Con plate. The Autobots stared at me in total disbelief.

"But, Demolisher," said Optimus. "He said..."

"I know what he said, sir," I replied. "And I promise I'll explain later, but we have to get Red Alert back to the base now!"

Within minutes we were there and I was finishing up my patch job on Red Alert, with Jazz as my assistant. As I worked, Rad, Carlos and Alexis decided that they had better go home, but said they'd see me tomorrow. But back to Red Alert: since I was finally able to get a good look at the wound, I got it fixed rather quickly. Jazz and I stayed by Red Alert's side until about an hour later when he woke up.

"Oh," he moaned as he put a hand to his forehead. "What happened?"

"You kinda got the snot beat out of ya, pal," said Hot Shot. "And you've been totally out of it ever since."

"I thought I felt something leaking," Red Alert replied. "Was I dreaming?" Optimus shook his head.

"No, old friend you weren't dreaming," he said and pointed over at me. "She found the leak and sealed it... and she's been right there waiting for you to wake up." I gave a weak smile and looked up at him.

"Are you okay?" I asked quietly. Red Alert smiled back and nodded.

"I can't feel a thing, kid," he told me. "Thank you." Then he looked at the rest of the Autobots. "What happened to the Mini-Con?" Hot Shot looked at me.

"Yeah, Sare," he said. "What happened to the Mini-Con?" I looked over at him and my weak smile became very bright.

"Last year," I said. "At my old school I managed to create a full size replica of a Mini-Con plate for my metal shop class, with Jazz's help of course. After I found the real Mini-Con plate back in the mountains, I slipped in my backpack with the replica. So when Demolisher showed up, I simply gave Carlos the replica and kept the other in my bag." Everyone seemed impressed with my thoughtfulness, but Smoke Screen had a question.

"How were you able to tell them apart?" My gaze drifted over to him, but my smile stayed the same.

"Simple," I replied. "When I created the replica, I engraved my name into the back. So when I went to grab it, I made sure to feel for the engraved letters before giving it to Carlos." Hot Shot shook his head and smiled.

"Way to go Kid. Way to go."


	5. There's More

It was decided that I should stay with the Autobots until the threat of me being used as a battery pack was over. So, as the moon rose over the Autobot base, I fell asleep on the same sleeping bag in the same room I had regained consciousness in only a few hours before, with Jazz faithfully by my side. He was always right there when I went to sleep- it may sound silly, but ever since that first night Jazz and I met, I haven't been able to doze off unless he sang me to sleep. The words were those of a love song and I'm not sure if I've heard the entire thing or not, but here's what I know:

"The moon is high, the stars are too. This night is made for me and you. I'll take your hand, put it in mine. This love is one to last all time. You smile at me, I smile at you and I know that all my thoughts are true. There's more to you than meets the eye. I look at you and I have to sigh. There's a light of goodness in you that always shines through. But beyond that, I know there's more."

As Jazz sung me to sleep, Hot Shot was standing outside the door, watching; listening; trying to figure out just what happened earlier today. 

"Hot Shot? Is everything all right?" Optimus had been watching Hot Shot closely since we had returned from our scrap with the Decepticons and noticed that he seemed far off. Hot Shot looked at him and shook his head.

"I'm not sure, sir," he replied. "When it was merely insinuated that Sarah had been captured by the Decepticons, my spark did more than just skip a jolt- I thought it was going to shut down completely! I've never felt that way before, sir. I mean, don't get me wrong, I care for you guys and Rad, Carlos and Alexis... but when it comes to Sarah, it's different." He looked at Optimus with an embarrassed smile on his face. "I'm losing it, aren't I?" Optimus shook his head.

"You're not losing it, Hot Shot," he said. "Actually, I've been wondering how long it would take for someone to say something. I never expected it to be you though." Hot Shot just stood there and gave him a blank stare.

"Huh?" Optimus chuckled.

"Hot Shot, how much do you know about the Dedicanvelope Prophecy?"

"Basically, what I told Sarah is all I know. Why, is there more?" Optimus nodded.

"I was there when the prophecy was foreseen, Hot Shot. Like you said, it told of a human child that would be the key for the Decepticons to win the war, but there's more. The Prophets also told me about Rad finding the Mini-Con, but not when it would be found, and he told me more about the girl mentioned in the prophecy." 

"So that whole thing about not knowing humans would exist?"

"A poor attempt to make Sarah feel better." Optimus paused for a moment then as suddenly as he stopped, he began. "He told me that one of my team members would develop a bond with the girl, one beyond that of just friendship, and for good reason- the two of them would share the same soul."

"Soul?" asked Hot Shot, "What's a soul?" Optimus smiled.

"The Prophets compared it to a CPU," he replied. "It's the thing that creates a human's personality- what makes them laugh or makes them cry; the thing that makes them do the things they do, much like a CPU." Hot Shot nodded and told Optimus of my jumping from vehicle to vehicle stunt.

"I remember thinking," Hot Shot said. "That she has to be a bigger hot shot than I am." That comment made Optimus laugh. 

"Oh yes," he replied. "It has to be your CPU she shares. No doubt about it." Optimus looked at a clock and shook his head. "It's late, Hot Shot. Maybe you should get some sleep." Hot Shot nodded.

"Yeah, maybe I should."

Meanwhile, on their moon base, the Decepticons were trying to figure out why the Mini-Con they had gotten from the mountains had not yet awakened.

"I don't understand it," said Megatron. "Why won't this Mini-Con wake up?!"

"I don't know, sir," said Starscreen.

"Maybe it's broken," said Cyclonis. Angered by the comment, Megatron picked up the Mini-Con and was about to throw it at Cyclonis, when he felt something on the back of the plate. He brought it to eye level and looked closely- there was writing on the back.

"Made by Sarah- 3/19/2001." Megatron clenched the plate in his fist, causing it to crumple like it was a piece of notebook paper. "Why that little… the girl, she tricked us! The Autobots have the Mini-Con and she slipped us a fake!"

"But how, sir?" asked Demolisher. "I didn't get the Mini-Con from her, I got it from one of the boys."

"She obviously slipped it to him some how," replied Megatron. He thought for a moment. "Demolisher, didn't you say she pulled the Mini-Con out of her backpack before handing it to the boy?" Demolisher nodded. "That's how she did it, you dim-witted poor excuse for a Decepticon! The real Mini-Con was in her bag! Didn't you even think to follow her?"

"I did follow her, Megatron," Demolisher defended himself. "I followed her bike right to those kids who dropped the Mini-Con."

"Was she on her bike, Demolisher?" Demolisher thought for a moment.

"Um, ah, now that I think of it sir… no she wasn't." Megatron's eyes narrowed, as he glared at Demolisher, who started to tremble. "I, uh, think I'm gonna run now." As Demolisher fled in fear, Megatron looked at the rest of his troops.

"Tomorrow, we proceed in setting a trap for the girl," he said. "But first we must acquire the bait." He smiled, "And I know of just the right things- no, just the right person and the right robot."

Hot Shot looked around. He was in a dark, cold place- almost cold enough to freeze his circuits.

"How the devil did I get here?" he thought to himself. Suddenly, he heard an ear piercing, blood curdling scream. 

"Hey!" it cried. "Let me go, ya stupid robots! LET ME GO!" Hot Shot looked in the direction of the sound, only to have his eyes widen and his jaw drop.

"Oh no- Sarah!" Yep, there I was, being dragged towards a giant cannon looking thing by a couple of unruly Mini-Cons... both of them being led by Jazz.

"Jazz," I pleaded. "Jazz, please don't do this, it's me! It's Sarah, Jazz- can't you see that?" My old friend said nothing, but continued to lead my captors towards the cannon. I felt tears start to run down my cheeks. "Oh, Jazz what have they done to you?"

"Sarah!" called Hot Shot as he began to run towards us. "Sarah, I'm coming!" I looked at him.

"Hot Shot!" I called back, "Hot Shot, please help me!" That was what Hot Shot planned to do, but something rather unexpected happened- Hot Shot's legs suddenly froze, stopping him but a few feet away from the cannon. Try as he may, Hot Shot couldn't get his legs to move. All he could do is watch as the Mini-Cons locked me into a human shaped key hole kinda thing. Hot Shot struggled, trying as hard as he could to free himself, but to no avail. He watched as Jazz walked over to the cannon and flipped a switch. I let out a scream, ten times louder than before. Hot Shot watched, encased in horror.

"SARAH! NO!"


	6. Friends

Hot Shot suddenly snapped to attention and found himself, not in some cold, waste land, but inside the Autobot base- outside of my room, where he had been all night. There were screams coming from inside. Hot Shot rushed in to see me lying on the floor, yelling my head off and acting as though I was struggling to free myself from something, with Jazz trying to wake me up. Hot Shot would have loved to lend a hand, but was faced with a problem- how would he wake me up without crushing me? He knelt down next to Jazz and I, carefully put his right index finger next to my side and gently (And I mean gently... well for a giant robot) nudged me.

"Sarah?" he asked. "Come on, Sarah-girl wake up!" My head suddenly shot up off the floor. I looked around, breathing deeply with my eyes wide open. When my eyes landed upon him, I jumped about ten feet in the air, a good five short of his knee. "Whoa, Sarah calm down- it's me." I just stared at him for a moment, tears streaming down my face, then leapt into his right hand and wrapped my arms around his index finger, gripping as tightly as I could.

"Hot Shot!" I sobbed. "Hot Shot I, I..." I was crying so hard, I couldn't continue. Hot Shot lifted his right hand into the air, put it near his shoulder and softly clasped his left hand around it- as if he was trying to give me a hug.

"It's all right, Sare," he told me. "I was pretty scared too." I looked at him, my eyes looking like tomatoes with big brown spots in the middle.

"You were really there," I said. "Weren't you?" He nodded.

"I was there, kid- I'm just sorry I couldn't help you." I wiped my eyes.

"Hot Shot, could the Decepticons really do that to Jazz? Could they do that to you?" Hot Shot stood up and started to carry me out the door. "Where are we going?" He chuckled.

"For a teenager," he said. "You sure do ask a lot of questions. There's something I want to show you." With Jazz close on his heals, Hot Shot took me down the hall and into a room. Inside were three Mini-Cons I'd never seen before. "Hey guys, this is Sarah and Jazz." The Mini-Cons beeped a greeting. "Sarah, Jazz, this is JetStorm, Sonar and Runway."

"Hi," said Jazz and I.

"You think you could combine for a second?" Hot Shot continued, "I'd like to show Sarah." They beeped again and suddenly transformed. All three turned into jets, but what happened next really amazed me- they combined into the most magnificent looking sword I've ever seen.

I wish I could describe it to the extent of it's stellar design, but I'd do it no justice. I just remember staring at it in absolute awe, and when I finally found my voice I managed to stutter: "What's that?"

"That's the Star Saber," Hot Shot said. "The most powerful sword in the universe, made up of the most powerful Mini-Cons in the universe. When it was first assembled, Optimus put me in charge of it." He put his finger under my chin and gently lifted it up, so my eyes were almost level with his. "As long as I have anything to do with it, nothing is gonna happen to me, Jazz or you. I promise you that." I smiled and wiped another tear from my eye.

"Can I show you something now?" I asked. Hot Shot gave me a confused look, but nodded.

"Sure, where we gonna go?"

"Surprise. We're gonna have drive- you still up for it?" Hot Shot smiled happily.

"Well, let's go!" He transformed into vehicle mode, Jazz and I hopped inside and we were on our way.

As Hot Shot, Jazz and I were cruising around town, Carlos was spending the night over at Rad's house. We could call it a guy sleep-over, except for one minor detail: Carlos wasn't sleeping and was keeping Rad awake by asking questions every five seconds.

"Hey Rad," said Carlos. "Are you asleep?" A groan came from across the room, where Rad was facing the wall.

"Well, I was," he replied. "What do you need Carlos?"

"What do you think of Sarah?"

"I don't know, Carlos- she's okay I guess. Why?"

"Aw Rad, she's more than okay. She's smart and she's got that great personality. Her eyes are just... and her hair, wow... and that smile." Carlos sighed, causing Rad to roll over and look at him. He had a dreamy smile on his face, one Rad had previously thought only girls put on.

"Carlos," Rad said. "Do you have a crush on Sarah?" Even in the darkness of his room, Rad could see Carlos' cheeks turn bright red as he started to stutter.

"No! I-I don't ha... what I mean is... how could you... No, I don't!" Rad began to chuckle.

"It's okay, Carlos. Like you said- she's smart, pretty..."

"Beautiful," Carlos said. "She's beautiful." Rad looked at his friend and smiled. Carlos was definitely in love.

"So, exactly where are we going?" asked Hot Shot. Hot Shot had been driving for about a half an hour, with me giving directions and Jazz just kinda laying back and playin' it cool.

"Turn in here," I replied. "The cave at the left." Hot Shot did so and once he got inside, he was amazed at what he saw.

"What the...?" I started to giggle.

"Hot Shot, welcome to my home."


	7. Sarah's Second MiniCon

***Hey all! I would like to take a few seconds to let ya'll know that the next two or three chapters are dedicated to my good friend, Criterion- this guy gave me an absolute stellar idea, that helped me write myself out of the corner I had written myself into. This one's for you, my man!***

Hot Shot looked around at the place I called home and couldn't believe his eyes. On the outside it looked like a normal dark, wet and spooky cave, but on the inside... you would have thought I was a millionaire. It had extremely high ceilings, which made it easy for Hot Shot to transform to robot mode, and was furnished with top of the line designer couches and chairs; many different and unique lamps on tables that were just as unique; a king size canopy bed; bookshelves loaded with books; a huge stereo system, with tons of different CD's; and there was a small kitchen area in the back.

"Sarah," said Hot Shot as he looked down at where I was sitting- on one of my couches next to Jazz. "Is all this stuff yours?" I nodded. 

"Yepper," I said. "Mine and Jazz's stuff in mine and Jazz's home."

"How did you... I mean, from what I've heard from Alexis and those guys, this stuff costs a lot of money."

"I didn't steal it, Hot Shot don't worry," I replied. "Before I left the orphanage, I took the liberty of looking through the head honcho's files. I found out that a lawyer in a nearby town had control of everything my parents left me. So I went to talk to him shortly after meeting Jazz." Once again, as I relayed my story, I could see the scene in my head, as if it had happened yesterday.

I had played it sweet and innocent, with my once long hair pulled into two pig tails (Jazz did my hair and very well, believe it or not) and my story being that I had been adopted.

"You see, sir," I said to the lawyer. "My new parents know how it is to lose a loved one, and they suggested I come see if my parents left me anything." The lawyer smiled and gave a nod.

"Well, Miss ***," he said. "Let me see what I have here." What's with the little star things? Well, that would be the part where he said my last name... only problem is, I can't remember what the devil he said. But back to the rest of the story: The lawyer guy (can't remember his name either) looked though his cabinet and pulled out a file. "Here we are, Sarah," he continued. "Let's see what we have here." Moment of silence. "Well, Sarah it would seem that you're parents left you quite a chunk..."

"Hot Shot," I said, bringing myself back to the present. "He rattled off fifty million different things and finally I had to ask if he'd just give me a copy of the paper."

As I repeated some of the things the lawyer told me, Hot Shot couldn't believe what he was hearing. I was a billionaire, with money to burn and I was living in a cave. When he asked me why that was, I gave a little chuckle.

"This cave was also left to me," I told him. "I checked it out after I found out about it and Jazz and I decided that this was it- this was home. So, I used my resources to have electricity installed and everything else I might need. And for the past ten years, this has been home." Hot Shot nodded.

"This is what you wanted to show me?" he asked. I shook my head and headed over to a small trunk that seemed to be purposely hidden in the back of the cave.

Megatron wasn't sleeping either. The image of the one that would allow him to destroy the Autobots once and for all was still fresh in his mind. He had that image memorized and he knew of what he could use as bait to get me under his control, but how to use the bait was a completely different thing. The Carlos character I seemed to have an interest in was always under the protection of the Autobots and Hot Shot had the Star Saber- something the Decepticons hadn't been able to get away from him. Megatron knew if he could just get his fingers around the throat of one of those two, I would do whatever he asked, even if it meant my death. But as he thought longer, Megatron remembered my vehicle jumping stunt- I was a bigger hot shot than the original. He smiled and gave a slight chuckle. Who needed bait, with a girl like me?

Back inside my cave, I lifted up the lid of the trunk; pushed aside some blankets and pulled out a small square box, no more than an inch thick. I opened it up and pulled out its contents- a silver Mini-Con plate. Hot Shot's jaw dropped.

"Where did you get that?" he asked me.

"I found it a couple months ago," I replied. "It struck me kinda odd that it was silver instead of green, so I picked it up. I thought it would be like Jazz and activate as soon as I touched it, but it hasn't done a thing." Jazz suddenly spoke up. "Jazz says he doesn't understand it either." I lifted the Mini-Con up towards Hot Shot. "What do you think, man?" He took the Mini-Con from my hand and gave it a going over.

"Sarah," he said. "I've never seen a Mini-Con this color before in my life." He watched as I bit my bottom lip in frustration, and added "But Optimus or one of the other Autobots probably has. Let's head back, get some sleep and check it out in the morning." I nodded as he handed the Mini-Con back to me and I put it into my bag.

"Okay. Well, lets go!"


	8. Armory

Hot Shot, Jazz and I headed home, with me sprawled out in the front seat, fast asleep. When he pulled into the Autobot base, Optimus was waiting... and he looked slightly worried.

"Hot Shot!" he cried. "Where have you been? Sarah's not in her room, is she with you?" Hot Shot rolled to a stop and chuckled.

"She's inside, Sir," he said. "Fast asleep. Why are you up so late, sir?"

"I thought I heard something coming from Sarah's room, so I went to see what it was. When I got there, she was gone and so were you. Where the devil do you go?" Hot Shot began to chuckle some more- he was grinning his head off, but you wouldn't be able to tell while he was in vehicle mode.

"Where the devil, sir? Stealing Sarah's saying, are we?" Optimus was silent for a moment, then smiled and laughed.

"Well, it certainly fits, doesn't it? Where did you guys go?" Hot Shot told the whole story, ending with the mysterious Silver Mini-Con. "A silver Mini-Con, eh? Never heard of one like that before."

"Neither has Jazz," Hot Shot replied. "I doubt anyone has." He was about to say more, when his driver side door opened. I climbed out, followed by Jazz; yawned; gave a good stretch and looked up at Optimus.

"Good morning, Sir," I said. "At least I believe it's morning. How are you?" He looked down at me with a soft smile.

"Good morning, Sarah. I trust you slept well?" I nodded.

"Yes, thank you. Hot Shot, you have a very comfortable front seat." Hot Shot transformed to robot mode and chuckled.

"I'll have to take your word for it, Sare," he told me. "Not very easy to get in your own back seat." I laughed, then drifted my gaze back over to Optimus.

"Would you like to see the Mini-Con?" I asked him. He was about to reply, when Rad, Alexis and Carlos walked in. I felt my cheeks turning red- I had just rolled out of bed; my hair was all messed up; my glasses (Yeah, I have glasses- I know it's kinda late to mention this, but I've had them the entire time and I'm darn near blind without them) were back in the room the Autobots called mine and I could feel my cheeks turning red. There was something about Carlos seeing me looking trashy that made me feel kind of... I don't know, embarrassed I guess. And why did Carlos have his hand behind his back?

"Hi Sarah," he said as his hand came out from behind his back. He was holding a bouquet of wild flowers, which he handed to me. "I picked these for you on the way up here. Do you like them?" My jaw hung open a bit as I took the flowers.

"I love them, Carlos," I said as I leaned over and kissed his cheek, which turned as red as mine. "Thank you."

"N-no prob-problem," he stuttered back. Jazz and I took the flowers to my room, where I put my glasses on, grabbed a comb from my backpack and ran it through my hair. Jazz just looked at me for a second, then decided to say something.

"What's up with you?" I shot him a confused look.

"What do you mean by that?" I asked.

"You've never cared about what you looked like before," Jazz replied. "Why are you starting now?" I shrugged my shoulders.

"I don't know, Jazz. It's just that... well, I guess when Carlos is around, it makes me feel like I need to class up a bit." Jazz gave a light robotic chuckle.

"I think he likes you the way you are."

I was about to reply when the Mini-Con alarm went off. Jazz and I rushed to the teleportation room, me stopping only to put my backpack on and to change into my orange jumpsuit.

"Where are we going?" I asked. Smoke Screen looked down at me.

"To some little island in the Pacific Ocean," he told me. "I think they call it Hawaii." My jaw dropped.

"Hawaii?! We're going to that paradise? Stellar!" Hot Shot switched to vehicle mode, cueing Jazz and I to hop inside.

"This island's a paradise, eh Sarah-girl?" Hot Shot asked me.

"Mm-hmm. It is for us humans, anyway." We arrived on a beach that was totally abandoned- my guess was we landed at one of the smaller, uninhabited islands. All the better- who wants to explain a bunch of robots appearing out of nowhere?

Jazz and I hopped out of out Hot Shot's seat; Rad, Alexis and Carlos hopped out of Optimus and all the Autobots transformed to robot mode.

"Okay," said Optimus. "Kids, you and your Mini-Cons start looking for the new Mini-Con. The rest of us will set up an ambush for the Decepticons."

"Too late, Optimus Prime!" Suddenly, laser blasts came out of nowhere, aimed right at us. There was an ambush all right- we were it. I managed to look up and see the Decepticons firing at us from atop a large sand dune.

"Crossbow!" yelled Smoke Screen, talking to a small purple Mini-Con, the one I had given him yesterday. When Crossbow linked up with Smoke Screen, he became a... well a crossbow that launched combination dynamite/ laser arrows, which he began to fire at the Decepticons.

"Kids!" cried Hot Shot, as he began to fire as well. "Get out of here, now!" Carlos, Rad and Alexis hopped on their Mini-Cons and sped away, but I stayed where I was. "Sarah, what are you doing? Get out of here!"

"No," I yelled. "I'm not leaving you!" Hot Shot couldn't believe what he was hearing. Frankly, I couldn't believe what I was saying, either. I, a five-foot-five inch, fourteen-year-old, four-eyed girl was worried about a thirty-foot, fully armed metal robot. There were probably stranger things in the world, none that I can think of off the top of my head, but that was my gut feeling- don't let Hot Shot out of your sight. My gut was telling me the same with Carlos, but as long as he was with Rad and Alexis, I felt I didn't need to worry... too much.

"Sarah-girl, I'll be fine!" Hot Shot yelled back. "Please- just go!" I shook my head.

"Forget it- I'm not go.. Jazz!" Well, my original plan was not to leave, but it seemed Jazz had other ideas. Still in robot mode, he picked me up; tossed me into the air and switched to vehicle mode. I landed right on his seat and he sped off. Hot Shot smiled.

"Oh, yes you are."

"Jazz, what are you doing?!" I cried. "Take me back there, NOW!"

"No can do, Sare," he replied. "Hot Shot and I both know you care, but we're not gonna let you get killed because of it!" I gave a slight growl and stood up on Jazz's seat. "What are you doing?!" I leapt into the air and landed on the ground, only to be running back towards Hot Shot seconds later. Yeah, I know I'm crazy- comes with the territory.

Hot Shot had called on the Star Saber and was in the process of using it on Starscreen, who was countering with a sword of his own; it was just one of his jet wings, but it was working. Hot Shot couldn't believe it- Starscreen had never been able to beat him when he had the Star Saber, but the Decepticon seemed to be fighting with a new source of power- most likely a threat from Megatron- and managed to knock the Star Saber out of Hot Shot's hand and knock him to the ground... just as I was closing in. He raised his sword into the air and drove it into Hot Shot's left arm. I froze in my tracks.

"NO!" I yelled. "Hot Shot!" He was engulfed in pain, but Hot Shot had enough energy to look my way and shake his head.

"Sarah," he whispered. "Run." I clenched my teeth together and looked Starscreen dead in the eye.

"Hey, you junk yard reject! Why don't you try getting what you're really after?"

Meanwhile, Rad, Carlos and Alexis had stumbled upon not one Mini-Con, but two- both of them silver, like the one I found years ago.

"What do you think it means?" asked Alexis. "Could it be another combination, like the Star Saber?" Rad shook his head.

"I don't know, Alexis," he replied. "It could be just that."

"Yeah," said Carlos. "But we won't know until we find the other piece."

"Right," agreed Alexis. "Lets take them back to Optimus and see what he thinks." Her companions concurred, hopped on their Mini-Cons and headed back towards the Autobots.

Starscreen looked at me and gave a chuckle. He could see a fire raging in my eyes... but he couldn't see a slightly recovered Hot Shot coming up behind him.

"You think you're pretty bad," he said. "Don't you, human?" I grinned.

"I'm not bad," I replied. "But the bad don't mess with me- they're usually stuck with him." 

Starscreen was about to turn around, when Hot Shot managed to use his Star Saber to slice off Starscreen's second jet wing and a bit of the back of his head as well. Starscreen was knocked unconscious (I guess it is possible, considering it happened to Red Alert, but I still had no idea how it worked.) and fell to the ground. Not even a second later, Hot Shot fell right next to him. I rushed over and knelt down at his side.

"Hot Shot?" I asked. "Hot Shot speak to me, please!" He opened his eyes a bit, looked at me and smiled.

"I'll be all right Sarah-girl. Go find that Mini-Con." I don't know why I chose to listen to him this time, but I nodded and ran off to find Jazz.

"Megatron, Sir!" yelled Cyclonis. "Starscreen is down and the girl is on the run." Megatron had been, once again, fighting with Optimus when Cyclonis delivered the news and had only one thing to say.

"Well, go get her, you idiot!" Cyclonis nodded, then transformed to vehicle mode and took off after me. Optimus knocked Megatron to the ground.

"Red Alert," he said, "Where's Hot Shot?" Red Alert shook his head.

"I don't know, Sir," he replied. "But I'll find out."

"Jazz!" cried Carlos. "Where's Sarah? Is she all right?" Carlos had spotted Jazz heading towards him and instantly noticed my absence. Jazz let out some excited beeps, then sped off. "I think he wants us to follow him!" So, with one Mini-Con under his arm and the other with Rad, Carlos and co. went after Jazz.

"Now I've got you, human!" I hadn't found Jazz yet, but trouble seemed to have found me- Cyclonis was right on my tail and my legs felt like Jell-o. Then, the one thing no pursued person wants to happen did- I tripped, which gave Cyclonis the opportunity to slide one of his missiles under my backpack and lift me into the air. Only one thought came to my mind: "Not good."

"Hot Shot!" Red Alert found Hot Shot face down on the ground next to Starscreen, barely conscious. "Hot Shot are you all right?" Hot Shot looked up at him, his eyes barely open.

"Sarah," he said. "Where's Sarah?" Red Alert was about to say he didn't know, when an ear piercing shriek filled the air- my ear piercing shriek.

"HELP!" Well, to make a long story short, a stray laser beam had hit Cyclonis, knocking me out his grasp and he crashed. So now, I'm falling from three miles up in the air, screaming to my little heart's content... taking a deep breath every now and then- needed air to scream, ya know.

Carlos, Rad and Alexis heard my cry and looked up at me, as did Jazz.

"Oh no," cried Carlos. "She'll never survive a fall like that!" Just as he said that, the Mini-Con in his hand and the one in Rad's began to glow. And two and a half miles in the air, the one in my backpack began to glow as well. Suddenly, all three turned into robots, the one with me destroying my backpack in the process. The first, the one that had been in my former backpack, was a sliver (duh!) rocket, with red stripes on the wing tips. I hoped it was going to scoop me up and set me safely on the ground, but no such luck- it turned into a sword!

"A SWORD?!" I yelled as I grabbed hold of it. "What the devil am I supposed to do with this?!" The second Mini-Con was a jet, once again silver with red wing tips, which sped up to me and transformed into what looked like the chest plate to a suit of armor, with the Mini-Con Symbol on the front, wings and a helmet, which fitted itself on me. "Now what's this?" I continued, two miles above the ground. "And what does this button do?" I had located a small red button on the left shoulder and was about to push it when the 3rd Mini-Con sprang into action. He was a car, that leapt into the air and transformed into a shield and landed in my other hand.

"Push the button!" a series of beeps told me. I pushed the button, which activated rockets on the wings of my armor stuff.

"WOW!" I cried. "This is great! How do you steer?!" I leaned to my left, which turned me left. "All right! Lets go!" I soared through the air, as happy as could be- this flying thing was stellar! Demolisher even tried to take me down with a laser blast, and my shield helped me shrug it off like it was nothing. Megatron saw me in the air and scowled. Now that my hotshot attitude was airborne, and both his planes grounded, I'd be harder to catch.

"Decepticons!" he called. "Retreat!"

After the Decepticons left, and it seemed I was out of danger, I landed and my suit of armor transformed back into Mini-Cons. They just kinda stared at me and I just kinda stared at them.

"Hi," I said. "I'm Sarah and I owe you guys big time- you saved my life!"

"We're the Armory," one, the Rocket/ sword told me. "And that's why we're here- to protect you from the Decepticons." I nodded.

"You guys are part of that prophecy, aren't ya?" The Mini-Cons nodded. "I see- do you guys have names?"

"No," said the Jet/ chest plate. "That's your job." I nodded again.

"All right then, lets see." I pointed at the rocket. "You are the most stellar weapon I've ever seen, man- so your name's Stellar." I looked at the Jet. "You're a pretty decisive factor in that Armor- without you, I would have fallen to my death. Your name's Criterion." Lastly, I looked at the car/ shield. "That blast from Demolisher would have delivered one heck of a shock, even with Criterion. Thanks to you, I didn't feel a thing- glad to have you with me, Shockstopper!" My new friends smiled... just as I remembered something. "Oh my gosh! Hot Shot! JAZZ!"

From wherever he was, Jazz heard my call and came speeding. When he arrived, I hopped on and told him to take me to Hot Shot.

"Criterion, Stellar, Shockstopper!" I said. "Come on- the good guys are over here!" The Armory turned to their vehicle modes and followed Jazz and I to the rest of the Autobots, humans, Mini-Cons and Hot Shot. He was sitting down with his right hand on his hurt arm. "Hot Shot? Are you okay?" He looked at me and smiled.

"I'm okay, Sarah-girl," he told me, then pointed at the Armory. "Who are these guys?" I smiled.

"Sit down, everyone- this'll take a while."


	9. For You, I Will

***Okay everyone, before we get into chapter nine, I have a couple things I'd like to say in response to the individual emails I have been getting from some of you people. First off, I know it's "Starscream," instead of Starscreen- I screwed it up on purpose. I do that with all my stories and I figured since he's a bad guy and already sucks, lets make his name suck too (Bad guys don't deserve cool names, in my opinion.) Secondly, I know Smoke Screen has a Mini-Con named Liptor or however you spell it. Hey, I'm sure he's a cool Mini-Con and all, but I wanted to give Smoke Screen a Mini-Con that was rather unbelievable. I mean really- A crossbow that shoots dynamite/ laser arrows? That's as believable as motor vehicles that turn into Giant Robots! (lol). Third: SARAH AND HOT SHOT ARE NOT GOING TO HAVE A ROMANTIC RELATIONSHIP! Contrary to popular belief, I am not that crazy. And finally, thanks again to Criterion for giving my some more cool ideas. I just wish I could help you with your problem! L8a and enjoy chapter 9***

"Sarah look out!" cried Carlos. "He's right behind you!" I looked over my shoulder to see Starscreen heading right towards me.

"Stellar!" I yelled. "Criterion, Shockstopper! Transform!" With that, the Armory transformed and assembled into my suit of armor. I took hold of my Stellar sword and Shock stopping shield and stood my ground.

"You plan to stop me with that tiny thing?!" laughed Starscreen. "There's no way!" I grinned.

"Wanna bet?" With that, I pushed the little red button and leapt into the air. I soared towards him, with my sword raised high into the air. As soon as I was close enough, I drove my sword straight at his chest, making direct contact with the area his main circuit board would be. Suddenly, he disappeared. 

Okay, it was about a week after our last brush with the Decepticons and the whole thing that just occurred between Starscreen and I had been a training exercise, with the Mighty Starscreen as a holographic target. After the program shut down, the Autobots and my human friends walked into the room. Hot Shot was smiling like there was no tomorrow.

"That was some pretty stellar work there, Sarah-girl," he said, excitedly. "The real Starscreen wouldn't have stood a chance!" I smiled back.

"Thanks, big brother!" I said. "That means a lot coming from you!"

What's with the 'big brother' crack? Well, after introducing the Armory to everyone, I asked the Autobots if there anything about the Dedicanvelope Prophecy they neglected to tell me. That was when Optimus told me the part about me sharing a soul/ CPU with one of the Autobots. I smiled and looked over Hot Shot.

"And I'm guessing you're my CPU mate of sorts?" He nodded.

"Considering you're a bigger hotshot than I am," he said. "I'm sure that's a safe bet." I chuckled and held out my hand. As carefully as possible, Hot Shot took his index finger and tapped it on my hand. Then he turned his finger over and I slapped my hand down on it- our version of giving each other a 'five.'

"Do you think that sword could really do that to Starscreen?" asked Carlos, back in the present. I had been wondering the same thing- that had been just a training exercise, so things could have been exaggerated a wee bit.

"Yes I do," said Optimus. "Our training system is designed to be one hundred percent accurate- if a hologram is destroyed, than the real thing would be destroyed as well." He looked over at me. "Your Stellar Sword might be just as powerful as the Star Saber." I was about to thank him for his confidence, when the alarm sounded- another Mini-Con had been activated.

Meanwhile, at the Great Wall of China, the Decepticons were setting up a surprise for the Autobots. They hadn't made a peep for the past week for one reason and one reason alone- they were plotting. And they had finally came up with a solid plan to get what they wanted, which included messing with the Autobot radar, making the good guys believe that there was a new Mini-Con waiting to be found at a predetermined location, but, according to Demolisher, there was one problem.

"Megatron, sir," said Demolisher. "Why are we moving our base to Earth?" Megatron rolled his eyes.

"Because, imbecile!" he shouted in reply. "The girl can't breathe on the moon! There's no oxygen and she's no good to us dead!" Demolisher fumbled with words to apologize, when Megatron continued. "Just make sure her cage is ready."

The Autobots, my fellow humans and I arrived at the Great Wall a short time later. I had suited up with the Armory back at the base for reasons I didn't even clearly understand. A bad feeling I guess, but I had learned to trust those bad feelings long ago- the night my parents died. And as I rode with Hot Shot along side the magnificent wall, the memories of that night came back.

"Mommy, Daddy, don't go!" My parents turned around to see their four-year-old daughter, in her yellow sun dress, bare feet and long black hair pulled up into two pig tails run towards them. My eyes were red and my cheeks were streaked with tears- I really did not want them to go.

"Sarah," my dad said as he lifted me into his arms. "What has gotten into you, sweetheart? You mother and I won't be gone long." I buried my head into his chest.

"Don't go at all!" I cried. "You won't come back, I know it!" My mother smoothed down my hair.

"Is this about the dream you had last night?" she asked. I nodded, with my face still pressed up against my father. "Honey, it was just a dream. Your father and I aren't going to die in a car crash." She put her hand under my chin and turned my face towards her. "You've got to let us go, now- we're going to be late." With that, they were gone and I was left staring at them out the window. They waved at me as they drove away, but I wouldn't wave back.

I remained at that window all night, despite the request of my babysitter who pleaded with me to go to bed. I never left that window until early the next morning, when a police car pulled up and two officers informed me my parents were dead- died in a car accident. I instantly fell to the floor and began to cry, yelling "I told them not to go," over and over again.

"Sarah?" asked Hot Shot. "You okay, kid?" I snapped to attention and wiped a teardrop from my eye.

"Yeah, big brother," I replied. "I'm fine."

"Well, I had my doubts. I've said about five times that it was time to get out and you never said a word." I gave a light chuckle and opened my door.

"Sorry about that." Hot Shot transformed into robot mode, just as Carlos, Rad and Alexis pulled up.

"Hey guys," said Rad. "Hot Shot, Optimus and the other need your help. The Decepticons showed up again." Hot Shot nodded.

"All right," he said. "You guys split up and find the Mini-Con." With that he was gone. I looked at my companions- three humans and three Mini-Cons. For the first time since we met, Jazz and I weren't in the same general area. He had stayed back at the base with some of the other Mini-Cons to work on a better radar system. He didn't want me to go either, saying that they would need my help, but you know me- wild horses couldn't keep me away.

Suddenly, I noticed a shadow had covered myself, Rad, Carlos and Alexis. I turned around and saw Megatron standing over us. I turned around and looked at the fear stricken faces around me. I took a deep breath.

"In accordance with the famous KISS theorem," I said. "I suggest we run." With that, we began to juice it out of there. My first idea was to run far and fast, when Carlos came along side me, helped me onto his skateboard and sped off.

"So," he said. "What exactly is the KISS theorem?" I chuckled.

"It stands for 'Keep It Simple, Stupid.'"

As Carlos laughed along with me, something rather unexpected happened- Grindor hit a stone and sent us flying. We picked ourselves up off the ground and rushed over to Grindor. Before we got there, I knew we were in trouble- two of his wheels were busted. I shook my head.

"Can you carry him?" I asked Carlos.

"Yeah, no problem," he replied.

"Good- grab him and start running. Megatron can't follow both of us if we spilt up, and I know he'll follow me." Carlos shook his head.

"Sarah, I can't le..." I grabbed his head, pulled it towards my own and gave him a kiss. Carlos didn't know what hit him. After a second, I looked at him and smiled.

"You haven't got a choice- move it." Carlos nodded, grabbed Grindor and ran off. As he did so, one thought crossed his mind: "What was that for?"

I stayed behind a little bit longer, just to make sure that Megatron saw me and which way I was going to go. Other than a different direction than Carlos, I wasn't really sure where I was going. But when he got close enough to see me, I began to run. Megatron saw me and chuckled.

"So, she thinks I'm going to follow her, eh?" he asked himself. "Stupid girl."

I couldn't believe it- I had been running for about ten minutes and managed to corner myself between the bad guys and the Great wall. That meant there was nothing left to do, but stand and fight... until I remembered that my armor was equipped with wings and rockets. I could just fly out of there with the push of a button.

"Hello there, Sarah." I turned around to see Megatron standing behind me. He was smiling and had one hand behind his back. I raised my hand up to the button as Megatron pulled his hand out from behind his back. "I don't think you want to do that, Sarah," he continued as his fingers opened. "Especially after you see what I have here." Carlos was lying in his palm, beaten; barely conscious; looking at me as if to say he was sorry. 

Carlos felt more than a little guilty. He had stopped for a moment to catch his breath, when Megatron had captured him... well a little more than capture. He had come up behind him and slapped him as hard as he could. Carlos went flying and landed about fifty yards away, after slamming into a tree and hitting every branch on the way down. Now, he was nothing more than bait for his friend... a girl he loved more than anything.

Meanwhile, I closed my eyes, bit the inside of my lip and said: "Don't hurt him, Megatron- leave him out of this." Megatron's smile widened.

"I won't harm a hair on his head, my dear," he said. "As long as you do exactly what I say."

"And what would that be?"

"Take off your armor and come with me. If you don't, I'll crush your friend until there isn't even dust left." I looked down at the ground. "So what's it going to be?" I sighed.

"You've got a deal." Carlos looked at me and began to shake his head.

"No," he cried, to the best of his ability- his voice was so horse, I could just barely hear it. "Sarah, you can't do this!" I looked up at him, a single tear rolling down my cheek.

"For you, I will. Stellar, Criterion, Shockstopper- disarm." My armor removed itself and transformed to robot mode. "Stand down guys," I continued. "I made a deal and I won't go back on it." I looked up at Megatron. "Set the boy down and I'll come quietly." 

Megatron set Carlos down all right- he threw him right at me! Carlos slammed into me, I went flying and slammed into the Great Wall, almost leaving an impression. By the time I hit the ground, I was barely conscious. Through narrowly opened eyes, I watched Megatron scoop me into his hand and give an evil smile.

"Decepticons!" he yelled. "Retreat! We've got what we came for!" As he disappeared with me in his hand, another thought crossed Carlos' mind, just before he passed out.

"So that's what that was all about- she loves me too." 

When Demolisher heard Megatron's command, he threw his head back and began to laugh.

"Do you hear that, Hot Shot?" he asked. "We came for the girl and we've got her!" Hot Shot had been fighting Starscreen, again, but froze when he heard Demolisher's words. Once again, his spark skipped a jolt and he thought it was going to stop. He looked in the direction he had seen me start to run and headed that way. When he arrived, he saw only the wall, and Carlos with the Armory trying to revive him. Hot Shot became overcome with an emotion he couldn't describe, let alone handle. He fell to his knees.

"SARAH! NO!"


	10. Memories

It had been three days since I had last seen my friends. Other than in a cage, not much bigger than myself, hanging from the top of some dark, wet cave, I didn't know where I was, nor did I care. I hadn't spoken in three days, and not for a lack for conversation. The Decepticons had been trying to talk to me since I had been captured. Don't ask me why, they just had an urge to get me talking. Oh yeah, and I don't know where these guys got a bunch of food (or how they knew that McDonalds Chicken McNuggets with honey dipping sauce were my favorite), but they brought it to me by the ton. But I didn't eat it- I wasn't hungry. I was to worried about Carlos. As far as I knew, he was dead and, at this moment in time, that was my worst fear.  
Carlos wasn't dead, but a part of him wished he was. Then maybe all the guilt within him would finally disappear. He knew he was responsible for my capture by the Decepticons and no one could tell him differently...   
"So you're telling me," Hot Shot said. "That the only way we can find her is through this thing you two created?" Jazz nodded.  
"That's about the size of it," he replied. "Sarah and I created this thing not too long ago and it works very well." What were they taking about? Let me tell you a little story that happened shortly before I met the Autobots...  
"Hey four-eyes! Come here!" Before I started going to school with Rad, Carlos and Alexis, I attended a school full of first class bullies- the four-eyes they were referring to was me and as I always did, I ignored them. And as they always did, they threw stuff at me. Now, I don't know why these kids hated me so much, but I did know that there was always a different assortment of things that came flying at me. Anything from erasers, pencils, rubber bouncy balls and stuff along that line. But they had never thrown a fist at me before. And on this particular day, a lot of them came out of nowhere. I took the beating of my life, with about six of them against one of me and the second they let up a bit, I was gone. I got up and ran as fast as I could, as far as I could.  
For some reason, I didn't go home, nor did I go back to the school and pick up Jazz. I just ran into the woods and managed to get myself caught between a log and the bottom of a river bed- I ran into this huge, really huge, log at the edge of the bank and fell over it into the water. I had just managed to turn myself over on to my back when the log came down off the bank and landed on my left ankle. Adding to my problems, I couldn't move the log. I sighed in defeat- this was going to be a long night.  
It was about five minutes after four PM when Jazz started to worry about me. I had told him this morning there was going to be a slight change of plans tonight, because a teacher wanted me to stay after and get some help in Math (My worst subject), but I'd be done at four and I would come out and tell him if anything changed. That's when he heard some kids start talking.  
"You know, maybe we shouldn't have been so hard on that girl," one said. "No one's seen her since she ran off- what if she's really hurt?" Her companion just laughed.  
"If you ask me," he replied. "The chick deserved it. Coming to our school, acting like she's the queen of the world..."  
"What do you mean by that?"  
"Well, she never talked to anyone other than the teachers, she has that really sweet bike and never let any of us ride it... anyway, Sarah deserved it!" With that little comment, Jazz took off like a bolt of lightning. There were reasons why I never talked to anyone- It had been just Jazz and I for the past ten years, so I wasn't really used to people around my age. As for talking to the teacher, I only spoke to her when she asked me a question and I never let anyone ride Jazz, for fear they might find out what he really is. Either way, Jazz knew he better find me fast. And as far as I was concerned, the faster the better.  
It had started to get dark. But before that, it had started to rain- hard. Now, the river I was trapped in wasn't exactly shallow- in all actuality, I had my arms outstretched behind me to hold me up and the water was still up to my shoulders. So the part of me that had been dry, was now soaked and the water was rising fast.  
The water was now up to my neck, even though I had managed to push myself up and grab hold of the log that trapped me in what could be a watery grave, a rather difficult task considering the strong blasts of water that were pouring over the log- if I went under, there was no possible way I'd come back up alive.  
"Jazz!" I yelled. "Someone! Anyone! Please, help me!"  
A part of me felt it was no use- even if there was someone around me, there was no possible way they could hear me between the storm brewing and the waves crashing around me. I was wrong- seconds after calling for help, I heard a familiar beep sounding out over everything else.   
"Jazz!" I yelled again. "Jazz, I'm over her..." The thing I had feared most had happened. A strong wave came over the log, making me lose my grip on the log and pushing me under the water. Try as I did, I wasn't able to push or pull myself back to the surface. I was on the verge of giving up, when I felt something grab onto my arm. A moment later, the pressure on my ankle vanished and whatever had grabbed my arm was pulling me to the surface.  
"She was half dead when I pulled her out," Jazz told Hot Shot. "A few moments longer and she probably would have been. Anyway, after she told me what had happened to her that day, we decided to change schools. And we also created this little thing right here." He held up a little remote control looking gadget, which he explained as the receiver part of a homing device. "The transmitter is inside a locket Sarah wears hidden under her shirt," Jazz continued, as he pulled a small computer chip out of the remote and handed it to Hot Shot. "If my figuring is correct, we should be able to slip this chip into the Mini-Con Radar and lock onto Sarah's signal... provided she has the blasted thing turned on."  
"Why wouldn't she have it turned on?" asked Hot Shot.  
"Well, sometimes she forgets."  
Just as he made that comment, I remembered about my necklace. Making sure that no one was looking, I pulled my necklace out from under my shirt. It was a cute necklace, one Jazz had given me for my fourteenth birthday, or at least the day we called my birthday- for the life of me, I can't remember when it really is. It was an oval shaped gold locket, with a silver plate in the middle, engraved with an 'S' and dangling on a gold chain. I squeezed the silver plate, which activated the homing device.  
"Come and get me, guys."  
"So now what do we do, Optimus?" asked Rad. "We don't know where the Decepticon base is, let alone if they really took Sarah there." Optimus nodded.  
"I know Rad," Optimus replied. "I'm not sure what we should do."  
"Megatron will most likely get a hold of us," said Red Alert. "Saying that if we give up the Mini-Cons, he'll return Sarah."  
"He'd be lying though," Alexis said. "He'll be waiting to use that laser cannon on you and the rest of the Autobots!"  
"She's got a point," agreed Smoke Screen.  
"That won't happen." Everyone turned around to see Hot Shot and Jazz standing in the doorway. "Jazz and I got the radar locked on to Sarah's signal- she's somewhere in England, so lets go get her... where's Carlos?"  
"He's outside staring at the sky," said Rad. "He's been there since we got back- he's taking this whole thing kinda hard." Hot Shot frowned.  
"Maybe I should go talk to him?" Optimus nodded.  
"That's probably a good idea." Hot Shot nodded back, then walked out the door.  
"Carlos?" Carlos looked over his shoulder, just long enough to acknowledge Hot Shot's presence. "You all right?" There was a moment of silence as Carlos shook his head.  
"I just don't understand."  
"Understand what?" asked Hot Shot as he sat down next to Carlos. Carlos looked up at him.  
"When Sarah first walked through the door of our school," he said. "Guys left and right were whistling at her, trying to get her attention.  
"So?"  
"She never paid them any mind- the most popular guys in school were going googley-eyed over her and she never said a word. But then, there was that first time she looked at me and she smiled, and the last time I saw her and she kissed me. I just don't understand why she chose me." Hot Shot smiled.  
"You can ask when we find her," he said. "Which is exactly what we're going to do now. Let's go!" 


	11. Stonehenge

***Okay, for all you people who won't leave me alone, I changed it- "Starscreen" is now "Starscream." I still don't believe bad guys should have cool names, but if it'll get ya'll to leave me alone, then whatever.***  
  
I was sitting in my cage in England, completely calm. They were coming for me- I didn't know when, but I knew my friends were on there way. Megatron noticed how calm I looked and automatically became suspicious. Sure, I hadn't been totally freaking out during this entire experience, but I at least acted like I was slightly frightened. Now, I wasn't even giving him that little satisfaction. He walked over to my cage and gave it a shake, slamming me into both sides before grasping it firmly, pulling it down from the ceiling and bringing it level with his face.  
"Don't be so faithful, Sarah," he told me. "Even if your friends manage to find us, you won't be alive long enough to enjoy it."   
"Oh really?" I said, "What makes you think that?" Megatron began to laugh.  
"Oh, didn't Prime tell you? I can't believe he neglected to tell you this- you see, it doesn't matter if I can't destroy the Autobots with my laser cannon." He gestured towards a large gun, sitting in the dark night outside the cave, an exact replica of the one that haunted my and Hot Shot's dreams no more than two weeks ago. "If this cannon doesn't destroy the Autobots, they will still suffer a loss- they will lose you."   
That part I missed the first time around. I understood all about being used as a battery, but I wasn't informed I'd die because of it. In all actuality, it was really kinda dumb; I mean, really- what was the point of making a weapon that needed to be powered by a human, who died right after the gun was used?! Who were these crazy prophets that wrote this crazy thing? They had to be short-circuiting or something, because this was nuts!  
"They'll get here before you even flip the switch, Megatron," I said. "And you know it." Megatron laughed louder.  
"Why, Sarah," he replied. "That's what I'm counting on- I want them to be here as the energon shoots through your body, sucking out what power lies inside you while you scream away your last breath."  
I hadn't the slightest idea what 'energon' was, but considering the wonderful description I was given of how my last moments on earth would be spent, I was pretty sure it wasn't good. But I didn't hang my head in defeat or break down and cry. I just stared him down as best I could (His eyes were a lot bigger than mine, so it was a bit of a challenge) and spoke two words: "We'll see." Megatron scowled and set my cage on the ground.  
"Starscream!" he yelled. "Tell that Mini-Con of yours to help Leader-1 put the girl in place."  
"Yes, Megatron," said Starscream. "You heard him, Swindle- go get her." Out of nowhere came a small red racecar, which stopped directly in front of the cage. When he transformed to robot mode, I couldn't believe what I was seeing- if he would have been orange and blue, he would have looked a lot like Jazz. It hadn't been Jazz in my dream- it was this Swindle character. As he opened up the cage door and stepped inside, along with a gray Mini-Con, whom I took to be Leader-1, I got to my feet and prepared to fight. Then, another Mini-Con came into the cage- I knew I was out numbered, but that was no reason to stop fighting, even if I had one on each arm.  
"Hey!" I yelled as they dragged me kicking and screaming towards the cave entrance. "Let me go, ya stupid robots! LET ME GO!"  
"Okay, have we got everything?" asked Rad. The good guys were doing a last minute checklist and it seemed they had everything, until Carlos remembered something.  
"Where's the Armory?" A chorus of beeps came out of nowhere as the Armory rushed into the room and hopped into the back of Optimus' trailer with the rest of the Mini-Cons, with the exception of Jazz, who rode with Hot Shot and Grindor, who was told to stay at the base and rest after his wheels were fixed.  
"Everyone ready?" asked Optimus. Without an answer, the transport began. Moments later, they arrived at their destination- Stonehenge. The Mini-Cons and humans unloaded and the Autobots transformed.  
"You sure this is the place, Jazz?" asked Hot Shot.  
"Yeah, I'm sure," Jazz replied.  
"Then where is everyone?"  
"It's good to see you again, Autobots." said a voice. Everyone turned to look at a large cave. At the entrance was something Hot Shot recognized. His eyes narrowed- the laser cannon.  
"Sarah?" he called. "Sarah, where are you?" I heard him call and breathed a sigh of relief.  
"Hot Shot!" I replied. "Hot Shot, I'm back here!" Well, I was in the back at the time I said that. The cannon suddenly turned around, so I was now facing the good guys. My eyes instantly went to Carlos. My mind told me countless times he was dead- there was no logical way he could have survived with the injuries he had. My heart, on the other hand, told the truth- he was alive. I looked at him and smiled. "Hey man." Carlos smiled back.  
"Hey yourself," he replied.  
Megatron stepped out from behind the laser cannon, a sly smile expressed on his face. Shortly after, the rest of the Decepticons appeared, the same smile on their faces.  
"How touching, Autobots," said Megatron. "But this reunion is to be short lived. Leader-1, you know what to do." The smile that had once been one my face was instantly wiped away. Megatron had given Leader-1 his assignment earlier, making sure I heard everything he had to say.  
"After you activate the laser cannon, Leader-1," he said. "We'll use the laser cannon to destroy Optimus Prime and his companions on earth. After they've been dealt with, we'll use the targeting system and destroy the Autobots on Cybertron. And then when that's all done..." He shot a glance at me before continuing. "We'll take the girl out of the cannon and watch her die."  
I began to understand my place in the Dedicanvelope Prophecy more with Megatron's instructions. The laser cannon was made only to destroy the Autobots and nothing more. Also, if I stayed in the cannon after it had been used, I would stay alive... but I wasn't planning on staying in one place for the rest of my life.  
Suddenly, I heard a line of beeps coming from Leader-1, followed by the flick of a switch. It felt like my entire body was being pricked by millions of pins, while fire raged through my blood veins. I tightly closed my eyes, clenched my teeth together and held off from screaming as long as I could. I could just barely hear voices in the background- Hot Shot, Jazz and Carlos.  
"Sarah!" cried Jazz.  
"Turn it off, Megatron!" demanded Hot Shot.  
"Stop it!" yelled Carlos. "You're killing her!" Megatron chuckled.  
"That's the general idea, human," he replied. "That and taking you with her. Leader-1, fire when ready." Leader-1 beeped a reply and was about to do as he was told, when my voice came sounding through the air.  
"ARMORY!"   
Criterion, Stellar and Shockstopper suddenly sprang into action. How they managed to lock onto me when I was stuck in my human shaped keyhole, I do not know nor do I care! I just know they did it- Criterion took his place as my chest plate, Shockstopper went to my left hand and Stellar to my right. The pain stopped and I was relieved.  
"What's happening?" I asked anyone who would care to answer.  
"We're stopping the energon from getting to you," said Criterion. "A good thing- to much more would have killed you" I smiled.  
"Well, then," I said. "Lets get me out of here." I was able to move my right hand and managed to use Stellar to push the little red button on my left shoulder. The jets on my back fired up, pulling me free from my small, bar less prison. I punched my sword hand into the air and raised my left knee. Freedom never felt so good. I flew off- I had a bone to pick with a certain Jet-type Decepticon.  
The battle between the Autobots and Decepticons started up again as soon as I called for the Armory, with Hot Shot going after Megatron, Red Alert against Demolisher, and Optimus versus Cyclonis. Smoke Screen was helping Rad, Alexis and Carlos find shelter from an air attacking Starscream.  
"Give it up Autobot!" he said. "There's nowhere left for you to run!"  
"I could say the same for you!" Starscream suddenly felt something slash through his left wing, taking off a chunk and forcing him to go to robot mode.  
"Who did that?!" he demanded. "Show yourself now!" He heard a chuckle fill the air.  
"I did it, you fugitive from a recycling bin!" Starscream looked up to see me with my sword raised above my head. "That was for my big brother." I charged in quickly and sliced off a large piece of his right wing, which he could have used as a sword if he'd thought quick enough. "That was for chasing my friends."  
My last tactic was taken out of an old cartoon: I started to circle Starscream, slowly at first, but then I got faster and faster. Starscream started off trying to follow me with his eyes, then resorted to spinning around to follow me and kept spinning long after I had stopped circling. Once he stopped spinning, he was dizzy beyond belief. I smiled.  
"And this is for me." I flew over and gave him a huge push, which caused him to fall flat on his back, completely out of it. I sighed and started to take deep breaths. I had temporarily taken down Starscream, but in the process had taken a lot out of myself. The energon from the laser cannon had done a good deal of damage, and although dealing with Starscream didn't hurt me as much, I still felt the effects. Something told me that Armory or not, one more good blast could be the end of it.  
"Megatron!" called Demolisher. "Starscream is down- the girl did it!" Hot Shot looked at Megatron and smiled.  
"The mighty Starscream," he said. "Taken down by a fourteen-year-old girl. Boy does that make me proud." Megatron scowled and charged at him.  
"Demolisher," he yelled. "Take care of that girl and her friends. NOW."  
"You all right?" I asked Smoke Screen, Jazz and my human friends. Just as four of them nodded, I noticed that the fifth was missing- Carlos.  
"Help!" I looked over my shoulder to see Carlos running from Demolisher, who was running from Red Alert.  
"Heads up, Carlos!" yelled Rad as Demolisher began to fire. A shot landed right at Carlos' feet, causing him to go flying through the air. I started to fly towards him as he picked himself off the ground.  
"Sarah!" yelled Alexis. "Don't!" I didn't listen.  
"Carlos," I cried as I got closer. "When someone says 'heads up,' they mean..." Demolisher took a shot at Carlos just as I pushed him out of the way. The shot hit me dead in the chest and threw me to the ground. I looked at my armor, only to see a large hole- the energon from the laser cannon must have weakened Criterion somehow. Why I didn't think to use Shockstopper, I'll never know. But I do remember saying one thing before blacking out: "Duck."  
Carlos found himself on the ground once more. How he got there was a blank, until he remembered hearing my voice.  
"Sarah?" he called as he stood up again. "Sarah, where are you?" He looked around, until he saw me lying on the ground nearby, motionless. "Oh, God no."  
"Megatron, I did it!" cried Demolisher. "The girl is history!" Megatron stopped his duel with Hot Shot, threw him head back and laughed.  
"Did you hear that, Hot Shot?" he asked. "Your little friend it gone. Decepticons, retreat!" With that, all the Decepticons, including the downed Starscream, were gone. Hot Shot stood still for a moment, then rushed off to find Jazz and Carlos- if I really was dead, they would be with me.  
"Sarah? Come on, Sarah, wake up, please." Carlos had asked the Armory to disarm and now had my head resting on his lap. Jazz was sitting next to him, not quite believing what he was seeing. He knew if Transformers could cry, he'd be bawling his eyes out. Surrounding them were Rad, Alexis and the rest of the Autobots and Mini-Cons. Hot Shot rushed up moments later. He looked at me, then at Carlos.  
"Is she...?" He couldn't bring himself to say it. Just before Carlos could reply, he felt something moving on his lap, followed by a groan and a small, quiet voice.  
"I thought I'd wake up dead." He looked down and saw my smiling face looking back up at him. "Hi guys." Everyone's jaws dropped, followed by stuttering about how I survived a shot like that. The Armory was even amazed, considering Criterion was badly damaged from the shot we took. "I don't know," I told them. "And I don't care, because I've never felt so alive in my life."  
Suddenly, for no reason at all, Carlos bent down and kissed me. I wasn't expecting it, but I didn't fight it- I had a feeling it was something we'd both wanted to do for a long time. Carlos looked at me and smiled.  
"Welcome back, Sarah." I smiled back.  
"It's good to be back." 


	12. Angel Eyes

Sleep. I did nothing but sleep for almost a week straight and when I wasn't sleeping, I was eating- Mc Donalds Chicken McNuggets with honey dipping sauce, fries and a root beer to wash it down. And when I wasn't doing either of the above, Red Alert was trying to figure out why I was still alive. I blamed it on sheer dumb luck and was content with that explanation. I was alive- what else mattered?  
"I guess I am what you humans call curious," Red Alert told me. "And it seems I have figured out what happened- the energon that was going through you managed to fuse itself into your veins." I gave him a confused look.  
"Two questions," I said. "What's energon and how did it get into my system?"  
"Energon is the main power source for Transformers," he replied. "As for how it got into your system, all I can guess is that enough was going through you at one time that it was forced to fuse with your... what's that red liquid called again?"  
"Blood."  
"Right, it was forced to fuse into your blood. And somehow the energon managed to absorb the blast from Demolisher, not causing you harm... you know, the 'dumb luck' explanation is starting to sound more reasonable." I smiled.  
"That's what I was thinking."  
Red Alert went on to tell me what had became of the laser cannon- Hot Shot and Optimus made sure it was destroyed- I would never have to worry about it again. In a way, I was kind of sad; if the cannon was gone, there was no reason for me to stay with the Autobots. Don't get me wrong, I liked my home back in the cave with all my stuff, but there was a family feeling at the base that I had never experienced before... and I liked it. That's when Optimus mentioned something to me.  
"You know, Sarah," he said, making sure that Hot Shot was in listening range. "The room you're staying in right now isn't really in use. If you wanted to move some of your stuff from you cave into there and stay with us, we would love to have you." I was estatic and showed it by attempting to wrap my arms around Optimus' leg.  
"Thank you sir," I said. "Thank you so much." Optimus chuckled.  
"Not a problem, Sarah. Besides, I doubt Hot Shot is willing to let you out of his sight." I looked over at my big brother- he was grinning like an idiot. Then again, so was I.  
"Hot Shot, Jazz, where are you taking me?" I asked for the zillionth time. It was about a week after Optimus said I could stay with the Autobots and I was riding in Hot Shot's front seat, along side Jazz, sporting a paisly cloth blindfold. Earlier at the base, I had been pulled away from a video game I had been playing with Rad by Jazz and Alexis. They led me over to Hot Shot, who was waiting in vehicle mode.  
"What's going on?" I asked. No one would answer; Alexis merely tied the bandana around my eyes- I guess they didn't want me to know where I was going- and Jazz helped me into Hot Shot's seat.  
"Okay, Hot Shot," he said. "Let's juice."  
"You got it man!" Hot Shot replied and we started to speed off. That had to be over an hour ago.  
"Is someone going to tell me what's going on?" I asked, rather impaitently. My companions just laughed.  
"No can do, little sister," said Hot Shot. "The Jazz-Man and I are just part of the transportation crew. Either way, we promised not to tell."  
"Who did you promise?" Silence- my methods of interrigation were not working. I sat back and waited for whatever to come.  
"We're here," Jazz said moments later. Hot Shot pulled to a stop and Jazz helped me out. "Okay," he continued. "Count to ten before taking the blindfold off."  
"Why do I have to count to ten?" I asked.  
"Humor me." I sighed and began to count. As I counted, I heard the rumble of Hot Shot's motor- he was leaving. I hurried up and got to ten before ripping off the blindfold... and was shocked at what I saw.  
I was at my old home- in the cave Jazz and I had shared for so many years. At my dining room table was a vase filled with red roses, along with table settings for two people and a wrapped box.  
"What the devil?" I asked. Suddenly, I heard someone clear their throat behind me. I spun around and saw Carlos standing behind me, a small piece of paper in his hand. "Carlos? What's going on?" He smiled.  
"Jazz told me that you don't remember your last name or birthday," he said, as he handed me the paper. "So I did a little digging." Confused, I looked at the paper. I couldn't believe it- it was a birth certificate... my birth certificate. I looked at Carlos.  
"How did you...?" He smiled.  
"Jazz and I went to see that lawyer who handled your parent's estate," he told me. "He pointed me in the right direction." My attention was focused back on the certificate- my full name was on there, along with my birth date and my parent's names. A tear came to my eye as I read.  
"Sarah Jo Cornell. Parents: Jesse James Cornell and Gina Marie Austin-Cornell. Born January 25th, 1986... I'm fifteen-years-old?" Carlos shook his head and nodded at a calendar- it was the 25th of January.  
"You're sixteen-years-old." I was ready to cry. Thanks to Carlos, I now knew who I was. I looked at him, tears glazing my dark brown eyes.  
"Carlos, I...," I said. "Thank you so much." He smiled, leaned over and kissed my cheek. He then walked over to my stereo, put in a CD and hit pause.   
"This song reminds me of how I felt the first time you kissed me," he said. "It describes how I still feel. Sarah, would you like to dance?" I nodded as he pushed play. The music floated to my ears- a song I had heard long time ago.  
"Girl, you're looking fine tonight. And every guy has got you in his sights. What you're doing with a clown like me, is surely one of life's little mysteries. So tonight I'll ask the stars above, how did I ever win your love? What did I do, what did I say, to turn your angel eyes my way? Well I'm the guy who never learned to dance. I never even got one second glance. Across the crowded room, that was close enough. I could look, but I could never touch. So tonight I'll ask the stars above, how did I ever win your love? What did I do, what did I say, to turn your angel eyes my way? Don't anybody wake me if its just a dream, 'cause she is the best thing that's ever happened to me. All you fellas you can look all you like, but this girl you see, she's leaving HERE with me tonight. And there's just one more thing I need to know: If this is love then why does it scare me so.  
Must be something only you can see, but girl, I feel it when you look at me. So tonight I'll ask the stars above, how did I ever win your love? What did I do, what did I say, to turn your angel eyes my way? What did I do, what did I say, to turn your angel eyes my way?"  
As the song ended, I looked at Carlos and smiled.  
"I can answer that question for you Carlos." He gave me a puzzled look.  
"You can?" he asked. "Which one?"  
"The part about a clown like you being with a girl like me." My smile widened. "Out of all the other clowns who spent the day trying to impress me, my heart went to the one who was himself and didn't even try. I love you for you, Carlos- don't ever change." I kissed him again. And that's where I'm going to end this tale. Maybe someday there will be more, but until then, I'm going to enjoy my birthday. 


End file.
